Q&A District V Area Board and Town Hall Meeting

Our goal is to have a literacy specialist in each school to help students improve their literacy skills. Right now, we do not have a district structure that can train all teachers at the district level without leveraging a train-the-trainer model. A literacy specialist at each identified can help staff with quality implementation every day. They will model, support data reviews, coach, plan, and give other support to improve reading.

According to the GaDOE CCRPI Report, our overall CCRPI score is 82.5. This is higher than the state's overall CCRPI score of 78.9. While the 84.1% of graduates in the Class of 2024 was the highest graduation rate in GCPS in a decade, we know we have work to do. The Board presentation outlined the steps the district teams and high schools are taking to address the gap.

According to the GaDOE CCRPI Report, our overall CCRPI score is 82.5. This is higher than the state's overall CCRPI score of 78.9. While the 84.1% of graduates in the Class of 2024 was the highest graduation rate in GCPS in a decade, we know we have work to do. The Board presentation outlined the steps the district teams and high schools are taking to address the gap.

As a 1:1 district, all elementary students have access to a Chromebook that supports their learning.  While use in classrooms varies based on instructional and learning goals, all students should be exposed to its use.  All elementary cluster schools also offer computer science and/or STEM specials which focus on computing systems, networks and the internet, data and analysis, algorithms and programming, and the impact of computing.  In addition, each teacher will use Google Classroom to post relevant classroom lessons, resources, and expectations in the 2025-26 school year.  Students access to Google Classrooms will be through a Browser tab that opens automatically when students log into their Chromebooks.  Both Chromebooks and Google Classroom will support students on Digital Learning Days.

As shared during the meeting, all questions are being answered either in the meeting or responses are being posted on the district website. The tool for the event is interactive and allows participants to "up vote" questions that resonate with them. Questions submitted with profanity are not being accepted.

At this time, there are no plans for GSMST to have dedicated school buses. GCPS continues to explore viable solutions for afternoon transportation challenges, particularly for students participating in activities at their home schools, while operating within financial and operational constraints.

At this time, there are no plans or considerations to move to a 4-day week.

BF: Offering higher supplements to lower compensated employees can be justified through the lenses of equity, retention and recruitment and adjusting for market conditions. The supplement structure considers sensitivity to inflation and ensuring that the impact of the supplement combined with the step increase, plus a $1,000 for employees paid on the teacher scale, or 1% for employees not paid on the teacher scale, should receive at least a 3% increase to combat inflation. The average employee will receive approximately 5.7%, with the highest percentages going to 94% of our employees.

Bullying, intimidation, harassment and verbal threats are against school rules, at Meadowcreek and in all GCPS buildings, and should be reported to a teacher or administrator. You may also report bullying by calling 770-822-6513 or by texting GCPS to 738477. If you still need support, you may reach out to the Meadowcreek cluster superintendent. GCPS takes bullying seriously; bullying violations may result in a disciplinary tribunal and possible expulsion from school.

Cluster superintendents are tasked with providing schools with both support and accountability. A primary focus of our schools, and therefore our cluster superintendents, is student success. Cluster superintendents are tasked with ensuring that schools follow all policies and procedures and that they have processes in place that align with them. This includes graduations and the assurance that schools have in place the appropriate safety nets to support their prospective graduates and all students.

Design work is underway for a new addition and renovations at GSMST, including a multi-purpose auditorium with seating for over 1,000. The space will support band, orchestra, choral performances, and robotics competitions. Anticipated timeline for completion would be Fall 2027.

Dr. Johnson-Morgan and Dr. Taylor responded to this question during the meeting, you can watch and listen here.

Dr. Morgan-Johnson answered during the event, you can watch and listen here.

Dr. Taylor and Dr. Johnson-Morgan answered at the event, you can watch and listen here.

Q. Please appoint Dr. Al Taylor, he’s a GCPS lifer, listens to the needs of Principals, and he has provided stability and continuity to the district. Could you please share the board's look-fors for the next superintendent? Why was Dr. Watts removed? There can be more transparency in the reasons why. It is still unclear and cloudy. Please clarify with transparency.

A. Dr. Taylor and Dr. Johnson-Morgan answered during the event, you can watch and listen to the response here.

Dr. Taylor and Dr. Johnson-Morgan answered during the event, you can watch and listen to the response here.

Dr. Taylor and Dr. Johnson-Morgan answered during the event, you can watch and listen to the response here.

Dr. Taylor and Dr. Johnson-Morgan answered during the event, you can watch and listen to the response here.

Dr. Taylor and Dr. Johnson-Morgan responded during the event, you can watch and listen here.

Dr. Taylor responded during the event, you can watch and listen here.

Dr. Taylor responded to this question during the meeting, you can watch and listen here.

Dr. Taylor responded to this question during the meeting, you can watch and listen here.

Dr. Taylor responded during the event, you can watch and listen here.

Due to state legislation GCPS shared ESPLOST with City of Buford Schools. Currently Buford City schools receives around 2.8% of the E-SPLOST funds.

Executive Cabinet leadership includes men and women who identify as African American, Native American, Latino and White. While having a staff reflective of our student population is important, we will always hire the most qualified candidate for position. Dr. Taylor responded to this during the event, you can watch and listen here.

For the upcoming school year, teachers will have access to district provided pacing and resources to teach the new Language Arts AKS. EL Education is the adopted resource for K-5 Language Arts, and HMH and Sadlier are the adopted resources for 6-8 Language Arts. In high school, there is a combination of resources depending on the course or grade level. HMH is adopted for grades 9-10 and the American Lit Language Arts course. Sadlier is adopted for grades 9-11, and Actively Learn is adopted for the remaining high school Language Arts courses. Each grade band also has Tier 2 and Tier 3 literacy interventions to support students' unique learning needs.

GCPS does not sign waivers that allow students into schools for which they are not zoned. The district's permissive transfer and residency affidavit procedures support this work.

GCPS has a focus on developing future-ready skills, like thinking critically, through our Portrait of a Graduate competencies embedded in student learning. We also offer programs like CS for All, CTAE, STEM, and, robotics, to emphasize these skills.

For K-5 Science, Teaching and Learning recommends schools build their schedules to ensure students receive 30-60 minutes of science instruction each to teach the Science AKS. Some schools alternate teaching Science units and Social Studies units which, and some include additional Science AKS instruction during certain Specials classes. Reach out to your child’s school to learn more about their schedule.

GCPS has a focus on developing future-ready skills, like thinking critically, through our Portrait of a Graduate competencies embedded in student learning. We also offer programs like CS for All, CTAE, STEM, and, robotics, to emphasize these skills.

For K-5 Science, Teaching and Learning recommends schools build their schedules to ensure students receive 30-60 minutes of science instruction each to teach the Science AKS. Some schools alternate teaching Science units and Social Studies units which, and some include additional Science AKS instruction during certain Specials classes. Reach out to your child’s school to learn more about their schedule.

GCPS has a focus on developing future-ready skills, like thinking critically, through our Portrait of a Graduate competencies embedded in student learning. We also offer programs like CS for All, CTAE, STEM, robotics, and AI-Readiness to emphasize these skills. GCPS is providing additional supports to schools around our GCPS Guidance for Human-Centered AI Use to support student and teacher preparedness.

GCPS is dedicated to improving multilingual learner success. Most recently, we took the following actions:

• Conducted an external review in partnership with WestEd to identify growth areas.

• Adopted a new ESOL curriculum in 2024 for grades 6-12 and provided supplemental resources to support newcomer students at the elementary level.

• Provided Imagine Learning Language and Literature for K-12 students.

• Increased the number of ESOL Endorsed teachers through the district-led ESOL Endorsement Program at no cost to staff participating in the endorsement and provided a stipend to staff completing the program in one academic year.

• Offer ongoing training for teachers to integrate language goals within content instruction.

Additionally, the district has increased our ML Program support with the addition of 8 instructional specialists who will be serving in three of our highest need areas. These efforts aim to enhance educational outcomes and increase exit rates from the ESOL Program.

Q. Dr. Tarece, can you apologize for the racist policies regarding the race of teachers noted in your blueprint, based on misreading educational studies? Dr. Tarece, do you think white teachers can teach black students as effectively as black teachers? Dr. Tarece, do you think a teacher's race influences their success? Dr. Tarece should race be a factor in hiring teachers?

A. Gwinnett County is in the top 10 most diverse counties in our country according to the most recent census data. That is a strength and should be celebrated as it is the perfect foundation for students to learn how to navigate in a global society. Our desire to promote an educational environment where the staff is reflective of the students they serve is intended to promote a positive experience for all students. It is important to understand that we want and expect every classroom to have a high-quality teacher. It is not an either or. Learning how to relate to individuals from different backgrounds, cultures, and races is critically important to all students, not just students of color.

I am a spirited advocate who fights passionately for equitable opportunities and outcomes for each and every student. There are many areas that we have made significant strides. I never want to dismiss where progress is being made or make those individuals responsible for producing those results to feel that they do not matter. They do matter, and they are seen. However, we can never be satisfied with the fact that we are doing better than we were yesterday or even if we are better than most when there are still many who are not. Yes, we should celebrate when we are doing better, but we have to keep moving forward. That is what I am trying to impress upon us. Our children are depending on us to keep pushing.

I am a very passionate educator. I am driven by the responsibility placed upon me by those who elected me to continue to fight and advocate for those who are disregarded or dismissed in larger conversations. I will always be that, unapologetically. However, I also believe that my passion, actions, and advocacy is misunderstood and unfairly perceived as combative. I care deeply for the success of our students and know that we have staff in our district who are just as committed and dedicated to the mission, but I also work with a high-level of urgency. This work is so important and so critical for our students' future. They don't have the luxury of waiting until we figure it out; we have to figure it out now.

I believe there are some parallels in lagging student achievement metrics for this student group with other specialized student groups, such as MLs. In the space of governance, specifically, as much of the work is operational in nature, there are opportunities to strengthen the expectations around what we, as a Board, expect to see with regards to special education. There are also opportunities to think differently about how we resource special education considering the significant gap in funding we receive through federal IDEA grants. While there is not specific KPI in our strategic plan that addresses the special education student group, we disaggregate student achievement and discipline data and monitor progress through that data analysis.

Q. Dr. Tarece, why the complaint about having 300+ pages of information to read during the last work session? Can’t deal w/the job as a board member? GCPS is huge! When will you resign, Dr. Tarece, given that tens of thousands of GCPS employees have quit to avoid your policies? Dr. Tarece, when will you apologize to the employees who were physically injured during your anti-discipline policies? Fights every day at almost every school. Dr. Tarece, why do you and the other board members elevate your “real jobs” when comparing notes with managing school district matters? So very disrespectful.

A. I certainly did not mean to imply or suggest that I am not up to the responsibilities of this position. I take my responsibility on the board very seriously and am dedicated to work of improving outcomes for students. This is passion work, and work that I pour into at a very deep and personal level. I would not have run for the Board and certainly would not have sought to be reelected if I didn't care deeply about this work. I understand that we may not always agree, but please know that I am making the decisions that I believe are in the best interest of the students we serve. I also understand that I am not perfect and have openly accepted criticism and feedback. We grow and we learn from our mistakes and missteps. We give grace and accept grace along the way. My hope is that we can all move forward, together. I stand proud to continue to represent District V and do not take this responsibility lightly. We, as a Board, have made some tremendous strides and look forward to a new start.

I love many things about GCPS. I love the rich diversity of our students, staff, and community that allows each and every to be seen, heard, and valued for their multiple dimensions. I love engaging with staff and students and hearing their stories of triumph and perseverance. I also appreciate the opportunity to empathize with their challenges and barriers knowing that we may be able to do something to support them achieve their goals. Most importantly, I love the promise of tomorrow that results from the hard work and advocacy of today. That drives me to advocate as hard as I do and will always inspire me to advocate even more.

Improving equitable access and opportunities for the most underserved students has been my life's work and a primary reason I ran for the Board. it is as the core of who I am as a person and will continue to be my driving force. The Board's work in this space is to provide the oversight, direction, and vision for the Superintendent to develop and implement strategies to achieve goals such as this. While there is always room for improvement, we, as a Board have and will continue to prioritize meeting the needs of each and every, and I certainly will continue to advocate for the needs of students not only in District V, but also in GCPS as a whole.

Improving equitable access and opportunities for the most underserved students has been my life's work and a primary reason I ran for the Board. it is as the core of who I am as a person and will continue to be my driving force. The Board's work in this space is to provide the oversight, direction, and vision for the Superintendent to develop and implement strategies to achieve goals such as this. While there is always room for improvement, we, as a Board have and will continue to prioritize meeting the needs of each and every, and I certainly will continue to advocate for the needs of students not only in District V, but also in GCPS as a whole.

Maxwell HS provides day care services at its location. Specific elementary schools offer pre-K classes.

Missing school means missing valuable instructional time and poses serious implications for students' overall academic success and wellbeing. Chronic absenteeism — defined as students missing 10% or more of school —emerged as a serious challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. rate of chronic absenteeism reached about 31% in the 2021-2022 school year and decreased to 28% in the 2022-23 school year. GCPS is not immune to this national trend and has also seen an increase in this realm. GCPS recognizes that chronic absenteeism must be addressed. Each school must draft an attendance plan, detailing its efforts to combat absenteeism, including how it will partner with families to help improve their child(ren)’s attendance. From a district level, The Department of Student Services supports all students as they matriculate through Gwinnett County Public Schools. Our department establishes processes, procedures, and best practices to support student learning and to promote success in social emotional development, positive behavior, and academic achievement. Included in this department is the Office of Health and Social Services, which places emphasis on student attendance. GCPS (Gwinnett County Public Schools) has a 1:1 device initiative that provides all students with a device for academic purposes throughout the school day. The BYOD network is turned off, so no personal devices (cell phones, tablets, personal laptops, AirPods, etc.) are needed or used at school1. Generally, the use of personal cell phones and personal communication devices is prohibited during instructional time and in instructional settings2GCPS also aligns itself and is in compliance with any legislation that drives efforts to remove distractions (such as student devices) and improve student attendance.

No. The selection of the superintendent is a core responsibility of the Board. We have asked our interim superintendent to gather and share feedback from the community and staff that may help to inform our selection of the next superintendent, but that is the extent of the involvement of district staff in this process.

One of the primary areas, as was communicated in the ML program review conducted by WestED, was that we do not currently have a policy or vision for supporting the work. A critical function of the Board is to create and/or revise policies in collaboration with district staff, and I have been a strong advocate for the development of such a policy. The primary KPIs outlined in our strategic plan are connected to EL progress towards language proficiency and the EL exit rate.

Roll out begins in 2025-26 school year, yes staff will go through. Dr. Taylor responded to this question during the event, you can watch and listen here.

SPA - Our testing program for all students, including MLs, aligns with state requirements for assessment. All GCPS students must take the universal screener, early literacy screener, and MTSS monitoring. The Access assessment is the language acquisition test to help us determine the level of service ML students need.

T&L: Our school district uses different ways to help students who are learning the English language. These ways include having teachers come into their regular classes, grouping them together, special classes, programs where they learn in two languages, and extra English language development classes. Teachers who are trained to teach English Learners give these lessons.

In elementary school, we mostly use the first three ways of teaching our English Learners. In middle and high school, we might add extra English classes and special classes based on what each student needs.

English learners take the same tests as other students, plus one extra test each year called the WIDA ACCESS test. This test checks how well they are learning English.

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The Board has the responsibility for the development of policies, but the superintendent has the responsibility for the implementation of the policy. One of the lessons we all learned was that there has to be a clear runway and sufficient time for the district to ensure that staff are properly trained and able to fully implement a policy. As we can see now, the policy itself is not problematic now that the district has received training and are clear on expectations. We feel confident that we will continue to get better over time.

The current EL exit rate for GCPS is 8.7%. These scores reflect the 23-24 administration of ACCESS for ELLs assessment. The state does not communicate a specific goal for school districts. 

The district assessment calendar is available on the website at the beginning of each school year. The district team does their best to balance the requirements of the state and instruction time. Testing times are expressed as windows where each school selects the specific dates they administer the tests. Teacher-made and unit assessments are added at the school and are additions that are not seen on the district website. Each year the district uses feedback to inform the development of the assessment calendar for the following school year.

The Work Sessions each month cover several academic outcomes for students, not just graduation rates.

There are ways other than language to gain trust and buy-in from communities of all types. Certainly knowing the language is a factor or a plus, but there are so many other things to consider of a building leader.

Vaping and absenteeism are challenges, but they are symptoms of a deeper cause and we need to be focused on addressing root causes, this continues to be an effort from GCPS. Dr. Taylor responded during the meeting, you can watch and listen here.

We appreciate the support and launch of our Pre-K program in GCPS with the full support of our staff, Board, and community. As shared previously, our current Pre-K program was fully funded through ESSER dollars. When those funds went away, we worked cross-divisionally to identify how to sustain our current program by identifying areas in our general funds to sustain the program. We launched a Task Force in late fall to explore options to expand Pre-K and identified several strategies that are being considered. We would like to be able to expand many of our programs, but with the many decisions that impact an entire system, those requests are not decided by any one individual or team, those decisions are reviewed, discussed, and made considering the broader context of the budget and other priorities across the district with multiple Divisions.

We are always recruiting for diversity. We make every effort to ensure our pipeline for all positions include diversity. We attend events at HBCUs and HSIs throughout the year. We also post our jobs on a variety of diverse platforms. We have increased our teacher diversity index more than 3% in the last 18 months.

We began our AI pilot just a few years ago. As a part of this work expansion has begun at GSMST and next year we will be adding access to the complete pathway at Maxwell HS of Technology. Maxwell offers transportation and access to the complete AI pathway for any student in the district. We have also created GCPS Guidance for Human Centered AI use and supporting resources for all GCPS stakeholders. We are currently in the midst of researching and planning to learn how and what parts of this pilot might be expanded.

We can always review our plans, however, our plan mirrors most plans available for consideration.

We continue to monitor discipline disproportionality rates and require schools to have goals in their Local School Plan for Improvement (LSPI) specifically monitoring that. Over the past few years, we have made significant investments targeted at increasing counselors and other wraparound supports. Additionally, we have completed training our staff on restorative practices as required by Policy JCDI.

We currently have 2 general education Pre-K classes in the Meadowcreek Cluster and 18 total throughout the district. We have 17 early childhood special education classes in the Meadowcreek cluster and 200 classes total throughout the district.

We have been having conversations as a Board and with staff about the prospects of audits. There are several, independent financial audits that the district undergoes with 3rd party vendors so we want to be careful to not unnecessarily duplicate efforts. There are also other types of audits (performance, equity, etc.) that we are considering as well, but we do also want to ensure that the new superintendent has an opportunity to share his or her perspectives on this.

We have not considered tiering by tenure. We want all employees to stay with GCPS. We have considered tiering by job families and income.

We learned some valuable lessons about the superintendent search process that have significantly influenced how we are approaching the search this time. There are some noticeable differences in our approach this around that we hope are communicating and demonstrating our desire to conduct a very thorough and transparent process with this search.

We review paraprofessional pay annually. We will continue to review and make adjustments as we have financial capacity to move.

We, as individual Board members, each have some key focus areas that we would like to see addressed by the new superintendent. However, we really hope to engage the community at a much deeper level to learn more about what they believe are critical characteristics, experiences, and skills that the next superintendent should embody. We want this process to be more inclusive and reflective of the voices of our constituents.

While some of our schools may offer unique programming aligned with their vision and community, programs like CS for All, CTAE, and robotics are available at our K-12 cluster schools.

Yes. Dr. Taylor has called this out in the transition plan, 5.2 Review the current district office structure and ensure that it is appropriately aligned to achieve the district’s goals. You can review the full transition plan here.

Q. Should individuals who lead private schools that receive public funds through vouchers be allowed to serve on the BOE and vote on matters like school choice? Dr. Tarece, should private schools that accept taxpayer-funded vouchers be subject to the same rules as public schools?

A: There are no legal statues in the State of Georgia that prevents a Board member from working with or being a part of the Board of a Charter School.  GCPS Board members are guided by 2 policies: Board Members Code of Ethics (Policy BH - https://www.gcpsk12.org/about-us/board/board-policies) and Board Member Conflict of Interest (Policy BHA- https://www.gcpsk12.org/about-us/board/board-policies).

Over the course of recent years, a variety of improvements, both qualitative and quantitative have occured in our schools. Among the accomplishments, McClure Health Science HS has maintained a four-year  graduation rate of over 94% and Meadowcreek HS has seen its remain at approximately 82%. Both schools generated multiple winners of academic scholarships and When compared to like schools, its multi-lingual students outperform their peers in their progress towards English Language Proficiency. The combined graduation rate of these high schools is an area of pride. In the area of CCRPI, areas of growth remain, but improvement can be seen in the high schools' Readiness and Progress scores. Beaver Ridge ES, Radloff MS, Summerour MS, Sweetwater MS, and McClure Health Science HS were all recognized by the Georgia DOE as Math Leaders based on their students' performance on the Georgia Milestones test. GSMST was recognized as a Literacy Leader by the Georgia DOE. 

At this time, there are no plans for McClure Health Science High School to have a dedicated bus purchased with E-SPLOST funds. GCPS continues to explore viable solutions for transportation challenges, particularly for students participating in activities at their home schools, while operating within financial and operational constraints.

GCPS is committed to ensuring accessibility for all students, staff, and visitors.  The district upgrades our facilities when ADA issues are discovered or conditions change. Our goal is to continually meet these requirements to eliminate any issues on our campuses.

The district does not have the ability to track students once they graduate. 

The build-out of the fourth floor of GSMST will provide classroom space for students during construction of GSMST's new auditorium, which includes the demolition of a portion of the original one story building, which was an old elementary school repurposed for GSMST. While the fourth-floor build-out is a requirement of the demolition and construction process for the new auditorium, the build out will provide additional classroom space and science laboratory space.

Currently, there are no plans to add a second elevator at McClure. The existing elevator is waiting on parts for a major repair to put it back in service. The parts supply chain is currently lengthy, and the repairs will be performed when the parts are received. We apologize for inconveniences this has caused and will have it back in service as soon as we possibly can.

Both the GCPS Climate survey  (EES) and the Georgia School Climate Survey (GSCS) are designed to measure general perceptions of safety by staff and students in schools. More information about EES can be found here: https://www.effectiveness.org/ees-surveys
More information about GSCS can be found here: https://gadoe.org/whole-child-supports/school-climate/